Is there a way I can use something like socket.io on the IC?

[iamenochchirima]

I want to have some real time communication system in my project, is there a way I can run a server for socket.io in a cannister or some other way to use websockets on the IC? Thank you.

[Severin]

WebSockets on the IC (PsychedelicDAO)

WebSockets on the IC Seeing as the Internet Computer is the only blockchain to natively serve assets over http (as well as soon make outbound http calls to external services), we (PsychedelicDAO) think that the next natural continuation is to find a way to implement the WebSocket API. Not only would it provide tremendous value for services built on the IC, but it would add to the growing value prop that the IC has over other chains. We want to be explicit that this post is not meant to act as …

[peterparker]

Here an answer to the same question from @rudi that is more up-to-date:

WebSocket support

Hi @lastmjs We wrapped up the proof-of-concept that was presented in the Public Global R&D. We are just waiting on the last approvals for open-sourcing it. I will let you know, when it is available.

[rbirkner]

Hi @iamenochchirima

we have just released our WebSockets proof-of-concept that showcases one way of enabling WebSockets and therefore “almost” real-time communication. You can find all the information in the following thread:

WebSockets on the IC – A proof-of-concept

We are happy to share with you our WebSockets proof-of-concept, which demonstrates the potential of enabling WebSockets on the IC through a dedicated gateway. [image] To facilitate WebSocket connections between frontends and canisters on the IC, we use a gateway. This gateway provides a standard WebSocket endpoint for frontends and handles the communication with the canister. It establishes WebSocket connections with canisters through update calls and uses polling to obtain the latest message…

[iamenochchirima]

Thank you for the update, studying it.

[jdchibuk]

Hi @rbirkner Did you try to run your implementation of the gateway socket on a hosted service?

We recently tried a web-socket implementation in javascript to speak to a canister for data transmission. We had success locally, however when trying to run on mainnet we ran into port issues.

Some of the port assignments we tried included port 80, 443/tcp and defined application ports 44389, 3001, we ran into issues with port 3000.

Do you know from your work if there was specific port assignments that needed to implemented to run on mainnet? Your help would greatly be appreciated.

[tiago89]

Just tagging @ilbert ans @massimoalbarello as they are the ones maintaining web sockets nowadays.

[massimoalbarello]

Hello @jdchibuk! @ilbert wrote a tutorial explaining how to interact with the IC via WebSockets. I suggest you check it out and reach out to us on Discord if you have any questions.